LICENCES FOR VESSELS AND BOATS UNDER TI1E ACT AGAINST SMUGGLING.
TO THE EDITOR. OF THE SPECTATOR.
SIR—Having resided some years in a neighbonrhood in which smuggling liiis been carried on to a great extent, I have had inany opportunities of observ-
ing the operation of the laws for the prevention of that offence. My observe.- tions have convinced me that some parts of those laws are felt by a very useful and industrious class—the fishermen—to be very injurious and oppressive. I entertain no doubt of being able to lay before you a strong case m firearm of that body of men ; and if I can induce you to notice it in your powerful jour- het I shall have rendered them an essential service. By the 6th Geo. IV. c. 10s, commonly called the Smuggling Act, all vessels and boats (with a few ex- ceptions) must he licensed, and the Commissioners of Customs may restrict
such licences in any way they deem expedient. By virtue of such pow, r, the Commissioners have confined vessels under seventy tons burden, to a coasting trade round Great Britain, and to fifty leagues along the French coast ; and vessels under fifteen tons burden, to severity leagues along the. English coast, and eight leagues from it. But if the owner of a vessel or boat is a suspected character, the limits are restricted ad libitum, both as to space and the dura- tion of the licence. It will be seen at once to how much abuse such regulations are open. The Officers of Customs, and more particularly those of the Coast Guard, are the parties who 'decide wheiher an applicant for a licence is a sus- pected character or not ; and clear indeed must that character be in which none of them can discover a speck. The Coast Guard are naval officers accustomed to the severity of military discipline, and therefore apt to consider the restric- tion of a boat's licence a very trifling hardship. They have strong prejudices, and little logic, and too often take a short cut in their reasonings (if I may so express myself); and because the greater part of sinug.glers are also fishermen, they conclude that all fishermen are also smugglers. The deceptions practised Upon them by the smugglers, and the savage affrays that sometimes occur with them, have excited in those officers a sort of antipathy to any thing- like a Smuggler. Their opinion, therefore, will in almo4 every case be against the party applying for a licence, if he is poor and a fisherman. With the Officers of Customs his chance is a little better ; but although his character should pass the ordeal of their examination, he will derive no benefit from it, if a doubt has been cast upon it by other parties. A doubt in such cases obtains the foram of truth ; and the security of the revenue from one illegal transaction is considered to be cheaply purchased by oppressing a few poor fishermen. It is pretty cer- tain, that such a power as that above described sill be exercised with an ex- treme degree of strictness by the parties to whom it has been intrusted. Their tido& are narrowed by their office ; and being required to be always on their &aid against illegal attempts, and vexed to find public opinion often siding with the Offenders, they become very quickly too sensitive to suspicion, and learn to Pe- tard smugglers in the light of natural enemies deserving of no quarter. The truth of Mr. Me cc ti aeocit's observations on this subject was never more fully exemplified than by the system adopted with respect to boat's licences. " Gm. vernmente," says he, "have almost uniformly consulted the pereons employed in the collection of the revenue, with respect to the best mode of rendering taxes effectual; though it is clear that the interests prejudices, and peculiar kathits of such persons utterly disqualify them from interests, a sound opinion on such a subject. The evil effects of the present system are not a few. Fishermen are deprived of their livelihood, and compelled to see, quietly, foreigners sweeping the best fish- ing-grounds, which they themselves may approach at their peril. They scarcely EIlay venture to sea, for fear a change of weather should drive them a little dis- tance out of the narrow limits conceded to them, and they should be pounced trpon by some prowling revenue-boat. A man suspected of smuggling, must, under the present system, always remain a smuggler. His restricted licence shuts him out from all fair trading, and he cannot employ his boat with profit to himself except at the risk of a forfeiture of it. Smuggling alone :Herds a profit large enough to compensate for such a risk. The system, moreover, seems not very well to answer the purpose of protection. The very suspicion attaching to any vessel in particular, and the consequent increased vigilance of the officers, would seem to be some protection to the revenue. If, however, such a vessel is thrown out of employment by restricting its licence, the owner generally resin ts to a foreign port, where he can procure a boat at a small expense ; and one tvhich if abandoned (as is generally the case) after an affray or a run has taken affiirds no clue whatever to the party employing it. It is well known that English boat-builders have been induced to reside abroad in consequence of the demand created by the licensing-system, which thus not only educates foreigners in the art of brat •building, but also finds that employment for their fiihermen which is best calculated to give them a thorough acquaintance with the English coasts. The system is also as great a protection to France as it is to this country. Cotton goods and other articles are smuggled into France ; but the licensing-system greatly checks this trade, by debarring our fishermen from the French coast. The French law is framed- on a different principle ; and although by it every vessel and boat is required to be licensed, yet no re- striction whatever as to limits is imposed. Another objection to the system is thergreat partiality of its operation. A relaxation of it is sometimes obtained by particular parties, through a friend at Court, whilst Others who have no such friend .may apply in vain for a similar indulgence. I think it also another argue rnent imainst the system emnplained of, that the interacts of the officers wino superietend the granting of those restricted licence-c, are identified with the cono tinuance of the system. Licences' restricted as to time require frequent re- newals, and throe restricted as to limits occasion numerous applications; by these means much tiredness is created, and the necessity of reductions mrssalary or the number of der ks is obviated.
I will now, Sir, support my arguments with a ease. The fishermen of Hest • ings bare log felt the oppression of the lieensiog-system. Several vessels have been seized flit being fiemil out of their Iiniilt ; and the usual fishing-groundo being exhausted, the fishermen were in danger of being thrown out of employe meat unless they were :!lowed to seek other grounds. Even under these cm- cumstameo, and when as I shall show) 710 suspicion attached to the parties, it was considered USileSti to apply for extended licences, except through a friend at Court ; and Mr. Noes ii, the M,uiber for Hastings, humanely undertook the office. Through his aid a number of honest fishermen, to whom no suspicion whatever attached, ohtlimll .14 that reason, but as at great indulgence, extended licences. This, Sir, is a strong ease, and in lIastings it is notorious. Poor men depending for a livelihood upon their employment of fishermen, honest and ine dustrious, and unsuspected of smuggling, are checked and harassed in that em- ployment, and when on the brink of rnin, Cann obtain no redress except through a Member of Parliament ! The oppression of the cane, the reasonableness of the complaint, is net listened to until it is i epresented by a Member of Perlis,- ment. I ask. why extended licences were rmt granted to those poor men before; or rather, why restrictions were ever imposed on them ? I ache whether the Commissioners of Customs ought not to render the interference cif a Member nt Parliament in such cases unnecessary ? The prevention of smuggling require, strict laws, which somewhat curtail the liberty of the subject : the greater ought to be the prudence of those to whom their execution is etinfided : any abuse of them ought to be watched with vigilance.
VERIT AS.
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